AS I walked my dog this morning a bird flew past chirping and my dog barked, nothing out of the ordinary, exciting or spellbounding, not for most, but for me an amazing turn of events.

For the first time in over ten years I have a standard of hearing that does not compromise my everyday life, instead of a jumble of distorted sounds that sometimes drove me to extreme thoughts I can now begin to learn how to enjoy the sense of hearing again.

What have I done to achieve this? Virtually nothing, paid a few quid in over the years.

What have others done? An awful, awful lot exceeding way past their job responsibilities. From my first diagnosis at my doctors, through the consultants and staff at Shelley Road, Boscombe, to the surgeons, and staff at the Auditory Implant Service at Southampton University.

We are not talking just hearing aid technology, we are talking Cochlear Implant, Bionic Ear, a huge stage further than conventional hearing aids an amazing field of expertise.

There is only one service that can provide this and that’s our NHS, don’t ever knock it while I’m around, because I can hear you now.

MICHAEL MOST, Wimborne Road, Winton